Renaissance GIFs Man

I’m very much for the interesting juxtaposition of things old and new. And sometimes once in a cold, blue moon, I see something that just makes me laugh till my sides hurt and cry “why didn’t I think of that in the first place?!”

The work of James Kerr of Scorpion Dagger has this very effect on me.

The premise behind his ideas are simple: he uses characters from Renaissance paintings and makes them come alive through animated GIFs. In ways you wouldn’t expect, and typically not in the fashion you would think. Niceties are out the window, and in comes the culture of the 21st century, embodied by characters who belong in museums (who look much too solemn to be twerking, you say? Prepare to never look at a painting the same way again.)

On being a self-taught artist:

I don’t necessarily have any formal art training, I actually studied History and Political Science in University, but have been making art in one capacity or another practically my entire life.

On where his ideas come from:

My ideas pretty much just come from silly thoughts that I have.

On how he creates his GIFs:

Once I’ve decided what I’m going to make, I start looking through paintings to pull out elements that I think would work best for that GIF. It’s then cut, paste, animate in Photoshop until the GIF is done.

(Quotes from We are Visual Animals)

You just finished reading Renaissance GIFs Man! Consider leaving a comment!

Click here to subscribe to the Pikaland newsletter! Our emails are not just empty visual calories – they're good for you. Plus, no spam. Ever.